King County Executive Ron Sims, left, congratulates Mike O'Brien, president of the Northwest Chapter of the Sierra Club, at a gathering Tuesday night of opponents at Piecora's Pizza and Pasta in Seattle.
Photo: Karen Ducey/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Voters in the central Puget Sound counties were rejecting the biggest transportation tax proposal in state history, one designed to unite transit and highway advocates to improve regional traffic congestion.

Tuesday night, it appeared that King, Pierce and Snohomish county voters were saying no to the measure, which combined a $30.8 billion Sound Transit proposal to add 50 miles of light rail line over 20 years and a $16.4 billion plan to build 186 miles of new lanes and ramps in the three counties.

The transportation ballot results appeared to follow a theme that voters were watching their pocketbooks during this election cycle. They rejected the proposed transportation taxes, approved a measure making it harder to enact new state taxes, voted to retain "super-majority" approval for local school levies and strongly approved a law that would penalize insurance companies that don't pay legitimate claims.

If Proposition 1, the roads and transit measure fails, King County Councilwoman Julia Patterson, a proponent, hopes that regional leaders will convene again to consider submitting another package of improvements. "We must do that," she said, "because the problem still exists."

Backers weren't conceding defeat Tuesday night. But Shawn Bunney, a Pierce County councilman and chairman of the Regional Transportation Investment District, which drew up the road portion of the measure, said he'd be "fidgeting" while waiting for final results.

"A lot of people were undecided and waited until the very end to vote," Toso said. "I think we have to be cautious about calling it; we're hoping some things can turn around in our favor."

Proposition 1 opponents were in a more celebratory mood. King County Executive Ron Sims, an opponent, said he was feeling optimistic, even though it was too early to declare victory.

Leaders "are going to hear from the public about what they really want. This isn't the first time the issue has failed," he said.

The vote came after the most expensive transportation-issue efforts in nine years; opposing campaigns raised and spent nearly $5 million trying to influence voters.

Proposition 1 would impose a six-tenths of a percent sales tax and an eight-tenths of a percent tax on car licenses in the urban areas of the three counties, on top of current sales and license levies. If passed, it would raise the sales tax in Seattle to 9.4 percent.

With the bridge aging and considered structurally vulnerable, the Legislature will likely consider a package using state gas taxes, federal money and tolls that it enacts on its own.

"It has to be done," Haugen said. "We can't afford to have a situation like we had in Minnesota," a reference to the urban bridge collapse in August.

Seattle resident Seung Yi voted for the measure at his polling place near Green Lake. "It's not a really hard vote, seeing how hard (commuting) has gotten. It's only going to get worse,." he said.

Some voters agonized over the ballot measure because of its length and complications. But Amy Larson, a teacher who lives in Seattle and commutes to her job on the Eastside, voted no after a lot of soul-searching.

"I want to see how the Sea-Tac light rail (segment) goes before we put up 50 more miles of it," she said.

Detailed construction schedules have not been determined, though the road projects would be completed in 20 years and the light rail extensions in 30 years.

Haugen said she doubts that regional leaders will attempt another transportation-tax package, given the other anti-tax votes Tuesday.

Others, however, spoke of attempting another proposal, which counties can still do. Mike O'Brien, chairman of the Northwest Chapter of the Sierra Club who opposed the transportation measure, said the region still needs a package that provides more transit options.

"We still care significantly about global warming," he said.

County Councilwoman Patterson said it wasn't clear to her why voters said no. She worried about the supportive coalition breaking apart, with roads factions and transit factions blaming each other. "We need to do an in-depth analysis of why."

Whatever the outcome, the Regional Transportation Investment District, which developed the highway project list, will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday to discuss its next move. The district was set up to finance the highway projects, though it wouldn't own them. Among the topics when it meets in King County Council Chambers in Seattle will be the next steps, which could include deciding how to handle project construction contracts if voters approve the measure.

"What we consistently hear from our members is that the status quo simply does not work any more for them as business leaders or as residents of the Puget Sound region," said Steve Leahy, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

The ballot measure was "a comprehensive, balanced approach, and with it, we can create a multimodal transportation system that works for our region."

The measure was supported by major businesses, organized labor and most environmental groups, who liked the proposal for an expanded light rail system that included extensions from downtown Seattle to Tacoma, Mill Creek and the Overlake area of Redmond. They also liked 30 miles of car pool-bus lanes that they said would speed up bus service, reduce the numbers of cars and cut pollution.

Seattle stood to get $323 million in regional money if the proposition passed, which would finance about 90 percent of the improvements to Mercer Street, the Spokane Street Viaduct and a new railroad overpass at South Lander Street, all designed to improve traffic flow if the Alaskan Way Viaduct is torn down and rebuilt.

State legislators mandated the joint roads-and-transit measure, hoping to end the historic tug of war between transit and highway advocates over which solutions better deal with congestion. They also were looking for new sources of project funding, convinced that gas tax revenue would drop as cars become more efficient and burn less fuel.

The proposal included money for replacing the Evergreen Point Bridge. But there was no public plan for where to find the $1.1 billion for the span if the measure failed.

And some critics noted that the package did not include money to replace the viaduct.